Soledad O'Brien on a mission

10/29/12 10:38 AM EDT

If you search Google News for “Soledad O’Brien,” the host of CNN’s "Starting Point," you’ll notice a recurring theme: the story is almost always about an argument, and the quotes in the headline are almost always hers.

“I don’t think I go into an interview looking for a fight,” O’Brien told POLITICO recently. “I only dig in if I feel like somebody else is digging in and either avoiding the question or out-and-out lying.”

If that’s true, then O’Brien’s world is filled with out-and-out liars who would rather spin platitudes than face facts. She often argues with guests multiple times a week, sometimes before they’ve even had a chance to answer the question she asked them. Some celebrate the confrontational style as a rare display of aggressive journalism. Many, her Republican guests especially, see it as grating, self-serving, and a reflection of what they see as her liberal bias. Either way, the heated exchanges are fast becoming a trademark on the otherwise tame, safe and stale brand that is CNN.

For O’Brien, who was forced from co-hosting duties on CNN’s "American Morning" in 2007 amid ratings struggles, all attention is good attention. But it is a tenuous strategy for the network. Cable news is filled with shouting matches, but 7 a.m. arguments can be a rude awakening. Mornings tend to be reserved for the casual informality of the breakfast table. Taking their cue from “Today and “Good Morning America,” the co-hosts of “Fox & Friends” and “Morning Joe” sit around and banter like friends at brunch. O’Brien has a panel, but she takes pride in the one-on-one. And for her, an interview isn’t an interview without some sparring.

“You know when you do a great interview. You know when you’ve been able to really challenge an interviewee,” she said. “You want to be able to sit down with people and push back and forth and have a really great debate.”

O’Brien says this isn’t a partisan objective: “It’s about doing a good interview,” she said. “If someone is lying to you on the left, or if someone is lying to you on the right, as a journalist you’re going to be embarrassed because you didn’t catch a lie. You have to catch people if their spinning you. You can’t just let people come on and spin and spin and spin you.”

But some Republican guests say she’s more obsessed with throwing accusations than with unearthing the truth.

Mitt Romney surrogate John Sununu, a frequent guest on the show, said he counts O’Brien as one of the “triumvirate” of Obama spokeswomen: “There’s Debbie Wasserman Schultz, Stephanie Cutter and Soledad O’Brien,” he told POLITICO.